life is not a fairytale (but this might be)
by geekyblackwidow
Summary: This is real life, not some sappy romance movie for doey-eyed couples. She doesn't understand it : romance is just not worth the heartbreak when it all inevitably goes south. (Or, a Cinderella story starring Captain Swan)
1. Chapter 1

**I am finally beginning to realize  
><strong>**I have lived forever mesmerized  
>By keeping myself well disguised<br>****And leaving my mind paralyzed**_**  
><strong>__**'Life is not a Fairytale' - first stanza, by James Lagoski.**_

* * *

><p>New York City.<p>

The city of lights, the city of dreams. The city where anything is possible.

'_**Yeah, right**_.' She thinks to herself.

Things like that rarely happen, this is real life, not some sappy movie for kids and doey-eyed couples.

That's another thing. Romance isn't all its cut out to be. New York is supposed to be romantic - if the homeless people taking drugs on the street and the drunks staggering around trying to pick a fight set the scene for you.

No, romance is exactly how its perceived in a Taylor Swift song; and even then its romanticised.

At least now she isn't one of those homeless people: not that she'd ever done drugs, never had the money to even try and get addicted. No matter how much people say they want to help, no one gave an orphaned girl a second glance as they passed her on the main streets.

At least now she has a roof over her head.

Not a home. She doubts that she'll ever have a home.

Home, she believes, is where her brother is. And at the moment, he's nowhere within her reach, off on some remote island with his new wife.

She likes his wife, she's an amazing person, but she can't help but feel slightly abandonned. She has no one without her brother, and now her brother has a new priority - his wife.

So, maybe with a slightly bitter taste in her mouth, she stares out from her apartment at Central Park, wondering how they can stand it - the feeling of love is great, but its not worth the heartbreak when it all inevitably goes south, in her opinion anyways.

Realising the time, she grabs her red leather jacket and runs out of the door, down the stairs, and a few blocks to the diner '_**Digne D'une Reine**_', where she works. Granny, who practically runs the place, used to own the diner, before profits ran out and they had to sell to keep the diner open. Her granddaughter, Ruby, works there as well, although she seems to spend more time flirting with customers than serving them.

Then there's Cora, the queen bitch around these parts of New York. She's the one who bought the diner, the one who renamed it. She let Emma stay on almost involuntarily - but she claimed it would ruin her reputation if she let a teenager live on the streets instead of work to have a home.

So now Cora thinks Emma owes her something. And Emma is subjected to poorly thought out insults and childish pranks whenever Cora's daughters, Zelena and Regina, come to the diner. Which, frankly, is quite a lot.

But Emma continues working perilously in an attempt to make her life (if you could call it living) just a smidge easier than it is now.

So when she accidentally knocks over a very handsome man with startling blue eyes on the street, she quickly apologises and runs back to her apartment.

(_And if those blues eyes haunt her, she never mentions it, because these feelings can only end in an inevitable heartbreak._)

* * *

><p><strong>NB: 'Digne D'une Reine' means 'Worthy of a Queen' in french. I thought that Cora would have named it something like that.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**I had built my walls to hide behind  
><strong>**From you and me and all mankind**  
><strong>Somewhere deep inside my mind<strong>  
><strong>Someplace no one else could find<strong>  
><em><strong>'Life is not a Fairytale' - second stanza, by James Lagoski<strong>_

* * *

><p>New York.<p>

Full of free-loaders and men who think they are better than him.

He may be a playboy, the son of a billionaire, but that doesn't make up for what he's lost.

His mother, his brother.

_Dead._

Because he was stupid and they worried and left to find him, and got shot by some petty thief after being stripped of their valuables.

All while he was passed out in some club.

* * *

><p>Now he feels like an orphan - true, his father's still there, but he's distant, he doesn't act like a father. He acts like a businessman; which he is, but he never quite learnt how to balance being a parent and running a company.<p>

Now he's being trained to take the company after his father's retired, something he doesn't want.

But he does it anyway, to make his mother, and Liam proud of him. They always believed in good form.

Then, one day, he's walking down the street, looking down at his feet, when someone bumps into him. Quickly glancing up, he sees emerald eyes, long blonde hair. He's too slow, just as he was about to open his mouth to apologise, she's already muttered a quick 'Sorry' and ran away. And he just stands there, staring at the back of this blonde beauty in a red leather jacket as she runs past him.

* * *

><p>His father is throwing a dinner party. At least, that's what it is at face value. If you look deeper it seems more like a ball than a dinner party.<p>

Then he finds out that every elligible bachelorette in New York has been invited to this 'dinner party'.

"You have to find someone, Killian. You know just as well as I do that running the company as an eligible bacherlor is not an option. You have to settle down before you even think of taking my place as the CEO."

As it turns out, the 'dinner party' (ball) was also for investors, so his father could show off his abitlity to host a formal event, and so he could try to improve upon his son's already tarnished reputation.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Killian was in his room, putting on his suit and mask. He'd somehow managed to convince his father to turn it into an masked ball – his excuse being he wanted to pick a wife based on personality rather than looks. But really, it was so he could look for those eyes that had haunted him for days – emerald green.<p>

So when he accidentally bumped into a woman with curled blonde hair styled half up, dressed in a simple blonde dress that stopped just above the knee, with a mask shaped like a swan, he couldn't believe his luck.

Hidden behind the swan mask, were those emerald green eyes he had been hoping to catch a glimpse of.


	3. Chapter 3

She doesn't think she belongs here. Even if Mr Jones himself came into the diner and formerly invited her, along with Ruby, Regina, Zelena and Cora (as a chaperone, _of course._)

Of course, Cora was absolutely adamant in her decision: Emma should not be allowed to go.

But she acted as if she really did want Emma to go, even if everyone else knew she was pretending.

When they were alone, Cora told her there was no use going to the ball, as if some billionaire would choose Emma to be his wife.

So that night, Cora left with Regina and Zelena. Ruby, had elected not to go.  
>"Emma, they want eligible women, which I am not. Victor proposed to me yesterday." She practically screamed in her face.<p>

Regardless, Ruby and Granny helped Emma get dressed for the ball. A simple, strapless, white dress, that ended just above the knee. Glittering heels that Emma begrudgingly put on. And a swan mask.

When she saw that, she laughed.  
>"The perfect cover. Emma Swan, disguised as a swan."<p>

* * *

><p>Someone bumped into her. She turned around, wondering who had knocked her.<br>She didn't expect to see the piercing blue eyes that had haunted her for days.  
>"Sorry, lass, I didn't mean to bump into you."<br>She smiled, shyly, feeling like an idiot for letting his eyes have an affect on her.  
>"It's fine, really." She replies.<br>"Well, then, I don't suppose you'd want to dance with me... Swan?"

* * *

><p>He leads her onto the dance floor. She doesn't know how to dance – okay, maybe she took a few dance lessons when she was younger, but that was contemporary dance, not a bloody waltz.<p>

He seemed to sense her nerves.  
>"Never waltzed before?" He asks. She shakes her head.<br>"Bit of advice. Pick a partner who knows what he's doing."  
>"And you know what you're doing?"<br>"Aye."

* * *

><p>He's actually a really good partner, and damn her if she's enjoying herself, letting him come slightly closer than she would normally let any guy. She's falling for him... And that makes her want to run more than ever.<p>

She glances at the clock. Midnight. _Shit._

"I am so sorry, I have to go, curfew, strict parents. Sorry, bye." She feels sorry for the guy, she didn't even catch his name, but she has to leave she has to go now before-  
>"Lass, wait, please. Don't go."<p>

He was pleading, but she couldn't turn back, she had to leave now otherwise she wouldn't be able to deal with her work tomorrow – then Cora might get suspicious.

Just as she was getting into a cab (hired by Granny, as she had no extra money), she heard him calling, "SWAN!"

* * *

><p>The next day, rumours were going round, claiming Killian Jones, the son of the man who threw the ball, was running around New York, trying to find the woman he'd danced and become enamoured with.<p>

Cora was beside herself, wanting him to come into the diner and decide that he wanted one of her daughters over the mystery woman from last night.

The doorbell rang, and a heavy-booted figure walked in – at least, that's what the person sounded like. Emma was ringing up a customer, so she hadn't looked up.

"Mr Jones, fancy you coming into our humble diner." Cora's shrill voice rang through the diner. The customer gone and satisfied, Emma finally looked at the elusive Killian Jones.

He was the guy she danced with last night.

"I'm looking for a woman who was at the dinner last night. Blonde hair, emerald green eyes..." He trailed off.

"There's Emma?" Ruby asked, pointing towards her.

"No, it couldn't be, she didn't even go to the party..." Cora started, but Killian had already begun moving over to the till.

She looked into his beautiful blue eyes.

"Swan?" He whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

_"Swan?" He whispered._

* * *

><p>She was stood before him, with those emerald eyes happy yet panicked, unsure.<p>

She _**had**_ run away from him at the dance yesterday.

"Is it really you?" He whispered. She gave the slightest nod of the head.

"Oh, this is nonsense," Cora announced. "Emma didn't go last night, we discussed it and she said she didn't want to. Are you sure its not Zelena, or Regina, my two daughters?"

Killian turned around and looked at the two women, then politely shook his head.

"The woman I'm looking for has emerald green eyes, much like Emma's. Almost identical." He replied with a smirk.

An elderly woman decided to speak up then. "Ms Mills, Emma did go last night, we sent her off after you'd gone. I know you didn't want her to go, tried to convince her that, and I quote, 'No billionaire would ever want her'. But she went regardless, after some convincing on my part. So she could bloody well be the girl young Mr Jones danced with."

Emma looked shocked that the woman had said that, and embarassed and worried. Cora was glaring at Emma, but Killian decided to intervene.

"Would you like to go for a walk with me, Swan?"

* * *

><p>They wandered down the streets until they came to Central Park.<p>

"So, Swan, why did you run away from me last night?"

She laughed shyly then explained that if she hadn't left, she wouldn't have gotten any sleep, and being dead on her feet whilst at work would have definitely raised suspicion with Cora. And, of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"So, what's your full name, Swan? I know your first name is Emma, but is there a last name to go with it? Or would you prefer me to keep calling you Swan?"  
>She laughed a beautifully light laugh. "Swan." She replied simply.<br>"You want me to keep calling you Swan?"  
>"No, my name is Swan. Emma Swan to be precise. That's why I kind of froze when you called me Swan for the first time. I didn't know whether you knew me. Its kinda weird when a stranger knows your name"<p>

"Well then, I'm Killian Jones, milady. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."  
>"You sound like nobility."<br>"Well, darling, I'm always a gentleman."

* * *

><p>They sat down on a park bench and began to talk, properly talk. He told her how his father was anxious for him to find a wife, so that he could take over the company. She told him about how she started working for Cora at the dinner; she had started working there when Granny had owned it, at 18, as Granny had been the only maternal figure Emma had ever had. She found it hard to believe that she was telling him that: he was so easy to talk to, but if her life had been any indication, opening herself up rarely ended well.<p>

So she found out the deep things and he found out the trivial things: her favourite book, colour, DVD, band, TV show, food, what she likes to do for fun, but barely anything truly about her.

When she noticed that it was past 2 in the afternoon, she realised she should be getting back to the diner. Killian stopped her, and handed her a piece of paper with his number on it. She smiled shyly.

"Just who are you, Swan?"  
>"Wouldn't you like to know?"<br>"Perhaps I would."

* * *

><p><strong>So I realised when I was rereading the last chapter before I wrote this one that Emma seems to be falling too quickly, so I'm trying to rectify that by making sure her walls are still standing tall. <strong>

**Please review!**


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